


Exquisite Pain

by MorbidOptimist



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Meditation, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 05:57:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17913077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorbidOptimist/pseuds/MorbidOptimist
Summary: The weight of switching sides has been stressing out the hex caster to dangerous levels when she decides to call Raven for help, but how long will her run of good luck last?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ( originally posted on my ff.net account )

"You actually came?" Jinx cried in disbelief.

"Well you  _ did  _ call me, did you not?"

Jinx backtracked, hastily offering an apology alongside sheepish grins while she rubbed her palms against her pants, clearly feeling as out of place as the empath did.

Raven waited a moment before sighing and crossed her arms. She cast a glance to the Pizzaria Jinx had decided to meet up at and found herself wondering if they were having their breadstick special and began contemplating whether or not the other founding members of her Team had anything planned for dinner when the sound of Jinx clearing her throat caught her attention and broke her out of her thoughts.

"Well then, I guess we should get to it then? Why I asked you to meet up with me and all that right? Unless you want anything first?"

The empath nodded and replied, "As lunch was waylaid in lieu of placating the mayor's fears about the rumors of mole people infesting the city's sewers being false for three and a half hours and breakfast being interrupted by Rancid and his mechanical menagerie earlier this morning, I'm quite inclined to the suggestion of _ anything _ edible at this point."

Jinx smiled, a little relieved that they were getting along so far and led the way inside.

The line for dining-in was long, which was the usual for the establishment, as it was frequented by hard working adults with no spare time to cook for themselves, and an extremely popular spot for teens to hang out. It was in the middle of town and everyone with working television knew it was often graced by the city's team of superheroes, which was the precise reason Jinx had chosen it as the meetup spot.

As they made their way further they reached the buffet styled bars where it was pretty much grab-and-go and Raven seized the last four slices of what appeared to Jinx as a heavily loaded meat lovers pizza with a small amount of zeal and slid them in one of the take out boxes on the corner. She scanned the bars quietly in the time it took for Jinx to find a decent looking mac'n'cheese slice and then surprised the hexcaster by teleporting to behind her to stuff a fair amount of breadsticks into her box. She looked up, her eyebrow quirked slightly, as if to dare the hexcaster to comment, and Jinx just shrugged before telling her to grab something to drink unless she preferred cherry kool-aid and grape soda. Mixed.

With a light frown, Raven elected to grab an iced tea on their way to the closest checkout counter. Jinx grabbed the boxes for the cashier to ring up pulled out her wallet. She dolled out a pair of twenties and Raven tapped her foot in impatience as the cashier fumbled for the correct amount of change.

With food in tow Raven relaxed, and let Jinx lead them out to the parking lot. They got as far as the sidewalk before curiosity of the situation struck the empath.

"So where are we going?"

Jinx rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck and offered what she hoped was a reassuring and friendly smile before replying.

"Well you know how I asked you for your help on something yeah?"

"Yes, that call you made just a few minutes ago is still within grasp."

"Well in order to help me I'm 'prolly going to have to explain a lot of shit and I figured that doing it in a place that's not out in public would be best, right? So I figured we'd just hash it all out at my house."

"House?"

"Well, apartment, but that's the gist of it. Unless that's weird or something?"

"Er, no, that's fine," she replied, shaking her head gently, "I just forget that not all of the Titans live in a giant Tower on occasion."

"Understandable, I thought that teachers used to live in their classrooms for like,  _ ever,  _ until I broke into the forbidden wing on the first floor back at the H.I.V.E. Took weeks for the Headmistress to speak to me again. I was scrubbing bathrooms for months," Jinx replied absently before grinning; "On the plus side though, I'll never forget the fact that she used to read out of date pulp fiction novels."

The empath didn't quite know how to reply to such a revelation and did a quick double take to see if the hex caster was serious.

"Of course after that I'm sure she flushed them all cause Gizzy couldn't find  _ anything _ on the vent cams. But I digress."

"You sent Gizmo to spy on your headmistress?"

"What? No, I mean it's not like that I mean," she sputtered, "In the H.I.V.E. we were just, I don't know,  _ encouraged _ to pull of sneaky shit successfully."

Raven nodded slightly and mulled the thought of the former headmistress over for a few minutes as they came to a crosswalk. Jinx hit the button signaling that they wanted to cross and the empath dug out one of her breadsticks and munched it quietly. The light turned and journeyed across without issue, which was always a nice turn of events for either of them and hopped onto the opposing sidewalk where they walked in silence for some time, until the growing unease rippling off of the hex casters emotions became too much for Raven ignore comfortably.

Breaking the silence, she asked, "So how are they doing, your other teammates I mean, Gizmo and all of them, if I may ask."

Surprised, Jinx slowed, allowing them to walk side by side.

"Well I mean, I haven't really talked to them since we split up. But they're resourceful so they're probably doing ok without me?"

Slightly abashed, Raven offered her apologies for bringing up what she considered sensitive subject material.

"No it's alright, I'm just not used to people talking about them like they're normal, ya know?"

"Normal?"

"Ah, yeah look, um, we're almost to my place so we'll talk about everything there, alright?"

Raven nodded again, noting her companions spike in heartrate. She began munching another breadstick as Jinx led her to the apartment building.

It was relatively plain, and there was an elevator, though Jinx led them to the stairs. She lived on the fourteenth story so it was a bit of a climb, but Raven refrained from complaining.

"Ah here we are," Jinx sang in delight when they reached the correct door; she bent to unlock it and ushered the empath inside.

It was sparkly decorated, and seemed just as plain as the lobby, and was an overall underwhelming color of beige. The sofa, though tired, looked comfortable and there were a few odds and ends strewn about, which made the small room feel more homey and there was a kitchenette father back that was relatively clean looking. To the left of the kitchenette there was what looked like a small hallway with doors to what Raven presumed to be a bedroom and bathroom.

Feeling oddly relaxed, she wandered closer to the couch and waited for Jinx to sit down before seating herself.

Their bags were placed on the coffee table and Raven made no apologies for her pulling her box to her lap.

"Alright," she began, her hands slowly unscrewing the bottle of iced tea, "now that we're here, which is a nice place by the way, feel free to elaborate at any time."

Jinx wrung her hands and tried to force herself to relax.

She gulped down a large breath and decided that like pulling off a band-aid, faster was probably better.

"I need your help controlling my powers. Or rather, I need you to help  _ me _ learn how to control  _ my _ powers, because well, Wally's been getting upset at me at missions lately and any second now I'm going to screw up big time and the media is going to have a  _ field day _ and they already hate me anyway and I really can't go back to prison and see Greg's smug ass face telling me ' _ I told you so' _ while I rot for good because I'll just fucking lose it again and I'm sorry because I know it's a lot to ask and we aren't even friends or anything but I promise that I'm a fast learner and that I'll try not to piss you off or anything and you're kinda my only hope here cause I don't know what else to do."

With that, the hexcaster exhaled and stared at her hands, which were attempting to wring the life out of her jeans, and forced herself to look back up at the empath, who judging by the looks of statement settled across her features, didn't seem quite prepared for this situation and then looked back at her hands while Raven gathered her bearings.

"Alright," the empath offered to Jinx's surprise, "start at the beginning."


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright so, you prolly remember that whole shabang with Brother Blood mind controlling the school and that really wasn't my thing at all?"

"That does ring quite the bell yes," Raven replied thinking back on the memory with her expression soured.

"Yeah, well long story short, after that whole battle that took place where everyone was fighting everyone and that sucked and I just…"

She trailed off as she tried to find the words she wanted to express the gravity of the situation and ended up shrugging before just trudging along.

"It was like looking out of my window and seeing that the train that I was on was heading for a really nasty place and the only way to save myself was to jump ship so I did. And of course, Flashboy seemed kinda into me and well, I switched sides."

"Understandable."

"So my old team hates me probably, and the police don't trust me as far as they can see me which isn't exactly that far anyway cause I'm pretty damn noticeable and then of course the media's been all over this since I walked down main street next to the other Titans in the first place," she finished as she gazed wistfully at her box of pizza that was sitting untouched on her coffee table.

"Not that I am not sympathetic to your plight, which I am," Raven began, setting aside her box to better position herself on the couch, "but to my knowledge, you've never seemed to have any issue with your powers, at least, you didn't back when you were on the other side as it were, so is there a specific thing causing it or?"

Jinx nodded once before replying, "Ok so I'll be minding my own business right?"

"Right," the empath replied, her focus narrowing slightly.

"And then the alarm will set off right?"

"Right."

"I start to tense up cause I know that shit's gonna go down."

"Fair enough."

"So we get there, Flash and me and maybe whoever else we're with, mostly Mas and Menos, who are totes adorable by the way."

"True."

"And then there's the bad guy and at first I'm like hell yeah, they're going down right?"

The empath nods once.

"And then like some of the people are in the way and have to be  _ out  _ of the way so we gotta get'em out of there and sometimes I have to rescue some of them and they're all like ' _ AHRG, DON'T HURT ME I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY _ '," she mimed in mock despair, waving her hands about in the air for emphasis, "and then I'm like  _ 'fucking chill man, I'm one of the good guys' _ and then they don't believe me and threaten to sue and shit and  _ that _ ticks me off, cause here I am," she continued actively, "risking my  _ neck _ for these guys and they don't have the fucking IQ to be grateful or whatever and I'm like no, that's cool, that's cool, and then Wally fucking yells at me to be nicer to them and I'm like I'm literally being the best I can be towards these guys, cause I am, and then by that point I've wasted all my time on the bozo people and half the time I turn around and the bad guys already done for which is shit, and then I have to deal with the cops and the press, which takes forever and  _ wouldn't _ you  _ know it _ ," she shouted bitterly, "the things gets  _ back _ up and we have to keep fighting it and now there's a lot  _ more _ people and I'm fed up so I let off some steam and bring it down and then everyone's on my case for getting too rough and I'm just so  _ done _ and then I get to hear about it for days afterwards from everything from Wally to the TV and each time it just gets harder to stop myself from screwing up and I'm terrified that by telling you all of this you'll kick me out of the Titans or something."

Raven contemplated Jinx's words for a few moments as she finished the rest of her tea, which left Jinx time to cool down from her rant while she chowed down on her pizza with vigor, which was a bit colder now than she would have liked but she was too preoccupied to complain.

Raven set her empty bottle on the table and crossed her legs, which Jinx took as a sign that she was getting down to business and steeled herself up for the empath's judgement.

"First and foremost, I'm glad you came to me for help."

The hex caster breathed a bit easier, leaned back into the sofa, and began chewing slower.

Raven looked a bit abashed, as memories of Terra and her own follies filling the empath's head and Jinx almost asked what was wrong before she shook her head and continued.

"It takes a lot of courage to admit to  _ yourself _ that there is a problem,  _ let alone  _ telling anyone  _ else _ about it. So you have my respect. Furthermore, I…"

She trailed off for a moment before mentally rephrasing and continuing on, "I know what it's like to deal with frustration and anger having an effect on the powers you wield. While I'm not an expert by any means at all, I promise that I'll do whatever I can to help you, and I promise that you don't have to worry about being kicked out or anything like, you know, within reason."

The squeal of utter delight caught the empath off guard, and she was braced against the armrest when Jinx dove in for a hug, but it wasn't as air constricting as the hugs she sometimes received from Starfire so she relaxed and allowed her teammate a moment to rejoice at her good fortune before she realized what she was doing.

After a few seconds the empath cleared her throat and Jinx retreated sheepishly, and wrung her hands in her lap once more and Raven smirked.

"So then," she began, lifting her chin up as she took on some of her old persona before the empath's eyes, "tell me professor, what's your verdict?"

"I can't really fix your problem now, as I just mentioned that I'm not an expert, but I'll look into some things when I get back to the Tower later tonight and I'll let you know by next week or earlier if I find something of use. For the moment though, I can offer some meditation techniques that might help? If nothing else it should help you destress."

"I'm up for anything really," the hex caster replied, her eyes looking brighter than before.

Raven nodded and looked around and used her soulself to push the couch and table closer to the kitchen, dropping Jinx with a yelp to the floor in the process, and sat crosslegged on the old rug covering the floor.

Jinx scrambled to mimic her, her nerves back in full force, and the waited until her breathing relaxed before beginning.

"Alright, now I don't know if you've ever tried meditating before but I'm going to teach you the way I was taught to, as it's a good of a place to start as any. Are you comfortable with closing your eyes?"

"Sure?"

"Alright, then close them and just breathe for a few minutes while I explain a little, it'll help, ok?"

"Got it, teach."

"Good. Now I want you to imagine your thoughts as some sort foreign thing. Bubbles or colors or what have you. You can just imagine those things in general if that's easier; Starfire found thinking of plants particularly effective so whatever works for you, use it. Are you with me so far?"

"Yep. I'm having fun with the colors thing to be honest."

"That's fine," she replied as she settled her elbows on her knees to better watch the hex casters progress, "Now that you're more relaxed, I want you to pick a phrase. Song lyrics or religious hyms or whatever you wish. It'd be easier with something small, and you have to be able to remember it. Again, it can be whatever feels right to you," the empath stated before grimacing.

"Garfield once chanted ' _ I like fake ham' _ for the whole session, so I mean anything; although I beg you not to use that one because I don't think I can take that for another forty minutes."

Jinx stifled a giggle, but grinned. She began running words through her head found herself beginning to fidget with the numerous possibilities running through her head.

"I don't suppose I can borrow one for now until I can come up with one?"

Raven mulled it over a moment before replying, "I don't see why not. Star uses mine on occasion and I don't mind you using it if you wish, as long as you don't ask me what it means."

"Ok thanks," Jinx replied in relief, "A-zar-rath met-tri-on zinn-those right?"

"Elongate the first o a little more and yes."

"Gotcha. One quick question though, not about the mantra."

"Alright, what is it?"

"Who's Garfield?"

"Beast-boy, and I'd appreciate it if you don't tell him I told you."

Jinx giggled and peeked at Raven who flashed her a small grin before the empath returned to her composed demeanor.

She closed her eyes again and asked, "Now what?"

"Now you repeat it for twenty minutes while your mind does the rest."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"That's it? No like, soul searching or wild trips or anything like that?"

"Entirely possible but no. The point is to focus on the words while your thoughts sort themselves out until you sort of… transcend I guess… into a different state of balance. You find serenity and the stress you felt from before should be eased if not gone. My teachers meditated this way twice a day for twenty minutes every day, which is, I assume, the normal amount. You don't have to do it for hours at a time like I do unless you decide it helps or that you like it. You can fall asleep doing that though, as Robin found out so be aware of that."

"Fair enough. So to make sure, I just sit here and chant until I'm relaxed and nothing black or misty is going to mess around with me or my brain right?"

"Right."

"Ok, just making sure."

"It's alright. Feel free to start whoever you want. And don't try to stop your thoughts from happening, remember, you aren't clearing your mind you're balancing it. Acknowledge the thoughts, them let them drift off. -I'll tell you when to stop so don't worry about that either."

"Ok, I'll give it a go."

Raven nodded, which went unnoticed by the hex caster as she began her chanting and the empath took a moment to glance around the apartment again.

The sunlight flowing in from the window was showering the room in a dim orange glow. The evening was fast approaching and there were sounds of rush hour traffic beginning to stir up.

She looked back to pink haired girl in front of her.

Her brows her knit, she focused on the words she was saying instead of the images and sounds no doubt flittering through her head.

Her tongue ring clicked at every crisp syllable and caught the light, which distracted the empath for a moment until she realized what it was, and then she searched the girl’s face for other modifications. She sported pierced ears, diamond studs in the lobes, an industrial piercing was on her left ear and on her right the entire outer rim was covered in more diamond studs. They ran in uniform order, largest to smallest, beginning at the lobe and ending at what she was fairly certain was called the daith.

Starfire had showed her tons of charts and online pictures of piercings when she discovered the cultural tradition and had spent days pouring over what possible combinations they should get. For safety in combat, they had both chosen standard lobe piercings, although the princess had later gotten a bellybutton piercing, which got infected and had to be removed.

She watched the light glimmer along the tiny diamonds and wondered how in the world they got the tiniest one in without losing it.

There was also a piercing on her eyebrow, which Raven thought must have been new, as she never recalled it being there before; and she noted that the hex caster must have taken a fair amount of time doing her makeup at some point in the day, as her eyeliner was even on both eyes, though the eye shadow appeared a bit smudged. There was a speckle of pizza sauce staining her face, near the corner of her mouth, which the empath considered magically removing for a minute before a change in Jinx's chanting caught the empath's attention.

She focused on the emotions rippling off of the girl.

There was an air of calm around her, as tentative as it was, and Raven was fairly certain the hex castor would master it the next time she attempted the practice.

She listened for a few more minutes, and decided to call time.

"Jinx."

She startled a little, but recovered almost instantly and instead of replying, stretched languidly and yawned a bit before smiling, which rather reminded Raven of a cat; though she supposed, it could have been her eyes dominating the impression, silted as they naturally were.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Better," Jinx replied happily, twisting in place on the floor to crack her spine into place; "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm just sorry that I can't do more at the moment."

"Well I've lasted four months already right?" she offered, trying to make light of the situation.

"True, and I really do commend you for your efforts. It couldn't have been easy."

Jinx felt her cheeks begin to flush and she started to stutter, "Y-yeah, I mean, I did try pretty hard," she replied while rubbing the back of her neck.

Raven nodded and treated herself to a quick stretch of her own before settling back down with a small smile.

"Well, I guess the only thing left to discuss today is what your powers work off of? It wouldn't do me any good to look into things in the wrong field entirely."

Jinx smiled and leaned back, resting her weight on her hands while replying, "For starters my magic is all about bad luck, that is, making everything's luck around me worse. Person walking by me? Boom they trip. Metal handcuffs slapped on my wrists, oops, they're corroded now. Unfortunately I don't know much more than that. By the time I was supposed to get magical training at the H.I.V.E. it was already taken over and everyone was already mind controlled so. There went that. Which is why I called you now that I mention it, cause I figured you might have had training? Or knew someone that did, I guess. Although I didn't really think you'd actually help someone like me to be honest."

"Someone like you?" the empath inquired, her head tilted slightly in confusion, "I don't quite understand. Why wouldn't I help you?"

Jinx blushed a second time, and quickly hugged her jacket closer as she rammed her hands into her pockets.

"I just meant that, well, I'm an ex-criminal, and I didn't know if you'd want to bother I guess, I didn't mean anything by it or anything."

"I probably would have helped you regardless of your criminal status. You being on my side just means that I don't have to lie about it."

"Wait, really?"

Raven nodded; "I swore an oath to protect this city and its inhabitants. That includes people of all moral persuasions. If I didn't help you with your powers I would be putting the city and its people at risk, and I'd also lose a potential ally, although, if you had asked me a year ago I might have been skeptical and stubborn about it all."

"Fair enough. I'm just still glad you agreed."

"Yes well. Moving back to the topic at hand, is there anything else you can tell me about your powers?"

"I can funnel them into different shapes if I want, and I have to think about the power I'm dishing out if I do anything big or I can topple buildings or explode people from the inside out."

Raven stared for a few minutes, a somewhat cartoonish depiction of a man exploding into fleshy confetti occupying her mind’s eye before she shook her head to clear the thought away.

"Good to know."

"Right well, now you know why I was worried."

"Yes. And like I said, I promise to help you in whatever way I can, you have my comm number so feel free to use it if things start to feel like they're going wrong or if you think of anything useful. Or if you just want to hang out and destress again," the empath said as she got up and dusted herself off and ran a few fingers through her hair, making sure it was all in place.

Jinx also rose, her eyes glued to the empath in front of her and offered her her best smile.

With a final surprise hug from the hex caster, the empath vanished into the black void of her soulself and disappeared, leaving Jinx with a sense of hope that lasted all the way to dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

She was sitting knee deep in a pile of particularly dryly written tomes composed of scrawling lines of Latin dialects and etchingly drawn on glyphs in the corner of the common room, which, while by no means was an unusual occurrence itself, was still rare enough in her choice of location to prompt a prolonged glance from the masked leader when he caught her in his peripheral vision.

He paused to take a better reading of the situation before curiosity compelled him to ask.

"Catching up on that summer reading list, then?" he offered, knowing that dull humor was the best way to bait the girl into a response.

Raven sighed almost silently, and her shoulders sagged as she set her book in her lap. She sat up, rolled her shoulders with what Robin assumed to be a satisfying pop and glanced in his direction.

"Personal project rather," she replied, earning a nod for her to elaborate, "Or, better put, perhaps a community service of sorts."

"Is it time to repaint the glyphs in wing of ancient mystical artifacts down at the museum of history again? Cause I haven't heard any of the night watchmen complain since you worked that out the last time."

"Thankfully that wing remains as still as the lips of monk twenty days into his vow of silence; no, I am actually referring to a different matter entirely. You remember that call I received yesterday? And then that I left to look into something?"

"I was hoping you'd get back to me on that actually. You kinda left in a hurry; I mean you didn't call in so we assumed you were fine, but we were a bit on edge last night when we missed you at dinner."

"I apologize that I worried you, I promise it wasn't my intention. I just got rather caught up in all of,  _ this _ , as it were," she replied in a simultaneous sweep of her hand across the various books ringed around her in abundance.

"Yes well, like I said, we figured you were fine anyhow."

"As it is, I promise to check in next time, or send you a text at the very least."

Robin nodded once; "Much appreciated," he replied before changing topic, "So what's got you all wrapped up? Something we should know about?"

"The call was from Jinx; she wanted my help with power management and I'm helping her as a personal favor."

"Jinx Castor, pink hair, striped stockings, that Jinx?"

"That's the one, yes," Raven replied, her brow slightly raised, "Despite our vast array of acquaintances I assure you there aren't that many Jinxs running around, unless something very strange happened at the old cloning mill last evening while I was in research hell."

"I'm just surprised that she sought you out I guess. But if you're all for it I don't see why it should be an issue. Helping her I mean. What is she having problems with exactly? I haven't had anything come up on the radar so it can't be that bad."

"Mostly stress-induced aggression I believe, mind you I've only spoken once with her about this so far but unless I uncover anything to the contrary, that is how I am going to approach the situation; thus I have been drowning myself in my old meditation journals and anything I can find relating powers of fortune and chaos themed magic."

"Well if you need anything from us just ask," he declared after clearing his throat, "and tell Jinx the same. She's a Titan so our resources are her resources. And anything we don't have the League might."

The empath's glance was unwavering for several moments, making the masked wonder painfully aware of his own beating heart before she blinked slowly in reply and ending her prolonged stare.

"Right, forgot," he replied quickly, offering his hands in sacrifice; "No offense."

"None taken, still, I should very much like to get back to my research as I've yet to find anything of real merit yet."

Taking the dismissal with grace, the masked wonder decided to leave the empath to her own devices for the time being to instead wander over to the couch to catch up on the daily new reports filtering around their fair city.

Several minutes went by as he flipped through the reports, pausing whenever one caught his interest only to return to surfing between them again when they ended. The sounds of worn pages being turned in the corner and the occasional inaudible murmur split up the sounds of channel static.

After half an hour of the aforementioned repetition, Raven's studies were interrupted by yet another melodious jingle ringing from her pocket.

Startled, it took the psion a few extra seconds to extract her communicator and replied to her leader's questioning glance with a shrug before putting the device to her ear.

With a click, her ears were met with sounds of sirens, harsh wails, panicked crowds, and what sounded like someone struggling to speak through gasps of breath on the other side.

"Hello, can you hear me?"

"Y-yeah, Raven, it's me... um, are you there?"

Immediately Raven was in ‘Titan mode’, and her leader's expression grew grim in silent concern as he watched her brief exchange and the on-goings of the situation on the television screen.

"Yes, I'm here, is there anything I can do? What's going on? Do you require backup?"

She waited with bated breath for the hexcastor to reply and Robin muted the newsreels.

After a few tense seconds of waiting for Jinx to respond the empath was about ask again before the hexcastor spoke up.

"Yeah, no, everything's fine, with the mission I mean, that is, everything's been taken care of but I'm kinda really freaking out right now and I'm really fucking upset an' you said I could call you and f-fuck I'm s-sorry I just-"

"Where are you?"

"A-ah..."

"Jinx, where are you?" the psion asked again, rising from her seat on the floor.

"-The bank down the street from the old Enterprise building, not the bricked-up one, but like, that one where Gizzy tanked you with a mini freeze ray that one time I think?"

"I know the one. I'm on my way, don't move."

"'Kay, I mean, I'll wait here -you can't exactly miss me."

Raven hung up and shoved the communicator back inside her pocket and looked up to see Robin watching the news with intensive interest.

Noticing that her call was over, he unmuted the reel and Raven watched in real time what it was that the hexcastor had been dealing with for the past four months.

The raging fire engulfing the building was easily being put down by the team of dedicated service people fighting on scene.

The surrounding civilians however, were not so easily subdued and the news crews were hound-like in their ever-escalating chase of choice gossip.

They wanted scandal.

The public wanted retribution.

And a pink haired girl with a checkered past was the perfect target for them to truss up as the town's favorite whipping boy.

And she looked like she was two steps from tears.

They were going to eat her alive.


	4. Chapter 4

A nod from her fearless leader was all the empath needed before slipping into the pool of darkness beneath her feet and vanishing into the interdimensional void.

A few seconds later, the empath stepped back into the plane of existence she and her team inhabited in the area just above the rooftops she saw displayed on the television a few moments prior.

The chaos along the street was thankfully not yet a riot, but the discontention still left a distinct taste in her mouth due to her empathetic nature.

Amidst the ring of onlookers below, she spotted pink hair in the unmistakable shape belonging to the hex slinger and just to her left were the smaller forms of what looked to be the twins and a couple of officers with a few too many clipboards for her liking.

Inhaling a deep breath she stiffened her spine and teleported a few feet in front of the press frenzied crowd.

Ignoring the gasps and shouts behind her, she strode forward with nothing but authority bleeding from her pores and her frosty demeanor quickly began to subdue the onlooker's shouts to hissed murmurs.

There were days where having her reputation paid off.

The police guarding the perimeter, feeling the air grow cold in her approach, quickly allowed her to bypass the tape and the hex castor, having just caught feeling of her magical signature, quickly looked in her direction and her watery eyes spoke volumes.

She didn't appear to be in tears just yet, but it would only be a matter of moments if things progressed further in a negative manner for her.

Raven was rather impressed at the girl's fortitude, if she were to be completely honest to anyone who wished to ask about it.

In her infamous, and much-discussed monotone, the psion began the harrowing and delicate process of damage control; "Good afternoon officers, Jinx, Mas, and Menos," she began, nodding to each of those she addressed in turn.

The officer's faces looked a bit sheepish, and the empath could feel the twinges of unease caused by her sudden arrival and she smirked internally.

"I caught sight of the smoke and wanted to check up on the situation, but it appears as if the members of Titans East and Jump Cities diligent service forces already have everything under control..."

Her voice never wavered nor raised in volume, but she had long since learned how to project her statements across varying amounts of space for the most impact; a trait she found necessary when constantly dealing with three rowdy teenage boys and an alien princess with little volume control.

The effect was immediate, the news crews scrambling to cover every detail of the founding Team's most elusive member, and the civilians began to hush, interested in this breaking new development.

"Might I ask what exactly transpired...?"

The leader of the group, she assumed, stepped forward hastily and cleared his throat; she caught sight of the man's identification badge and filed it away for future reference; she and her fearless leader would need it should he decide to take drastic measures against her or her teammate.

"Officer Dallas 'Mam," he replied, alongside a nod and a puff of his chest, "An I'm sorry to say that this 'Lil lady of bad luck set the bank on fire, so we've been having a bit of a chat with her about it since."

"Ahh, I see. Thank you," she replied in the same unwavering tone as before; her eyes however narrowed, and she felt the man begin to falter emotional.

"But I was informed that there was a robbery stopped here, just now, before I arrived. Is that information correct?"

"Yes 'Mam," the officer replied cautiously, the words catching slightly along his tongue; the intensity of her gaze was clearly beginning to take a tole.

"And was anyone injured? Civilians, hostages, or the work-forces? There are plenty of fire trucks and police cruisers but I didn't spot any ambulances, unless they've already left?"

"Ah, no 'Mam," he replied as his posture began to deflate, "Thankfully everyone was already out when it the fire alarm went off. Worst anyone got was Mad Mod's black eye. That speedy kid got him there."

"Speedy the archer or speedy the Flash?"

"That Flash fellow. Sped off with him down to the precinct too, which makes our jobs easier, not having to worry about transport an all."

"Then I would say that the most important and crucial part of our Team's services has been carried out faithfully. It is always a wonderful feeling when justice is served and the lives of the innocents have suffered no worse for wear;" said the empath, just a bit louder so the news mics would catch, "The property damage, is, of course, able to be completely covered by our Team's reimbursement program, should the owner's wish to pursue that option; otherwise they may of course discuss a few other options with the city council if they so please with that route instead, although I'm sure you've already made them aware of these facts."

She smiled then, a small one that didn't reach her eyes, and the psion knew that she had won, legally, at least.

The media no doubt, would overshadow the ordeal with her discussion with the officer and spin yarn after misinterpreted yarn about the matter; but as long as their attention remained off-focus of her teammate, she didn't care; she was far more used to dealing with the tides of mixed press having several years more experience with it under her belt.

The officer, realizing when best to cut his losses, chose not to respond verbally, and he was visibly paler and sweatier than when their conversation began.

Raven quirked an eyebrow, just enough to remain in character, and tilted her head just slightly; a dare, of sorts, that the officer seemed to catch.

The man merely nodded once more and readjusted his shirt collar.

"Well, as the fire looks just about extinguished, and the criminal has already been both stopped and apprehended, I believe I should like to discuss something with my teammates, unless you have anything further to add?"

"No 'Mam," he replied, "They're all yours."

"Thank you for your time."

She turned from him without any further comment of indication of acknowledgment and turned to the hex castor.

Jinx still looked quite shaken up and her eyes kept darting to her, to the ground, to the police, and to the crowd, and back to her again.

The twins seemed relieved, and the empath could feel their happiness slowly rise back over their worry for their friend; she was thankful that the Team's loyalty still seemed to run strong.

She offered them a gentle nod and looked back at the ex-thief.

Still very much aware that they were in the mouth of the lions' den, Raven kept her steely demeanor unfaltering; no doubt every camera crew on the block was straining to hear every syllable of their conversation; "Jinx, so glad I could catch up; it's been a while."

"Oh, y-yeah," Jinx replied hastily, her attention switching rapidly to focus on the empath fully.

"And thank you for your assistance today, as you didn't have to; I know it can be a bit much to step in on your days off."

"Yeah w-well, you know, duty calls," the witch responded, quickly catching on; her voice seemed to gain stability as she talked and Raven could feel her emotions begin to settle slightly, "We couldn't just let him get away with it, I mean, especially since we were like, right here, so..."

She shrugged, and swirled her hand in the air a bit, and the beginnings of a smile stretched her lips wider, though Raven could still feel the anxious energy and nervous friction clouding her mind.

"Yes well, I'm sorry to impose on you, but I was wondering if you might assist me with something? If you don't mind me stealing her away that is," she added to the twins, who smiled broadly at her.

They replied happily; they looked at each other, and then at Jinx before Mas offered a friendly pat to the hex castor's knee and the pair quickly sped off into a blur in the distance.

Jinx began to fidget restlessly at their departure.

Raven took pity and swallowed them in her soulself without another thought to the masses behind them.


	5. Chapter 5

When the pair resurfaced, they were somewhere further north; an area that Jinx knew more by proxy than by first hand experience as when she was a thief she had most of the city map memorized as far as roads went in order to have every available escape route possible at her disposal.

The witch readjusted herself, having been gripping the empath prior, and wandered forward a few steps to place her hand against the brickface of the closest storefront. Eyes closed and fist clenched, she rested her brow against the brick and began to hiss through clenched teeth, until all of a sudden she felt as though a blanket of calm was washing over her in a gentle wave.

Surprised, the hexcastor remained silent and relieved before that too dissipated and she felt nothing.

"Sorry about that."

Jinx turned to glance at the empath, who now seemed to look quite sheepish.

"For saving me?"

"For eating your emotions just now..." she replied quietly, "...I can't really control that."

The witch turned, rested her back against the wall and tilted her head; "Wait, you …  _ eat _ emotions? I thought I just got like tired out or something just now?"

Raven cast her eyes to the sidewalk; "Sometimes I'll just walk into a room and... well...  _ drain _ it, for lack of a better term," she replied as she shifted her weight slightly, "Cyborg likes to call me an emotional vampire whenever it happens."

"So... are they like... eaten forever then?"

The empath looked back up quickly as she replied, "They come back."

"So then I'll start freaking out again in a few days?"

Raven shook her head; "Minutes."

Jinx's lips grew taught as she considered this revelation and sighed before slouching her shoulders and slid to the ground. She leaned back against the building and crossed her arms.

"Well there's no one really here right? So when I break down it won't be on tv?"

"Actually, I was intending to take you inside a cafe I normally frequent; it's small, it's out of the way, it's normally empty about this time of day, and it serves good drinks."

When Jinx made no signs of replying the empath added, "The media aren't allowed within a forty-foot radius of the place and I've been there enough in costume that the workers don't think twice about it. No one will think about bothering us."

"Alright," the hex castor relented as she started to get up, "but like, jump us in there cause I don't want to start crying until I have a cup of something warm in my hands."

The empath nodded and teleported them inside the building.

It was a bit dim, even for the middle of the afternoon, but it was facing the wrong direction for the sun to filter in and they were a mostly nocturnal catering establishment. There were a few trinkets on the shelves behind the counter and the walls were filled with old posters and flyers from different events and musicians vying for attention.

True to Raven's word, the cafe was almost empty save for two lone persons sitting in the farthest booth; one nursing a beverage and the other's form hunched behind a laptop hooked into the socket beside them.

The empath chose a booth closer to the windows near the center of the establishment and gestured for Jinx to take a seat.

When she did Raven felt the beginnings of the emotional upheaval returning so she walked over to the young woman behind the register, placed her order, and quickly returned with a cup of tea for herself and a fairly sizable mug of hot chocolate for the hex castor.

With a sniff, Jinx wiped at her eyes a bit before setting her elbows on the table and allowed the tears to finally fall behind her hands.

She was gasping a bit, Raven noticed, but only because she seemed to be holding her breath as long as she was able to; likely to keep from causing a bigger scene, although all Raven could sense from the other occupants of the building was nothing more than a mild concern and a few tinges of curiosity, for which she was grateful.

No one seemed inclined to interrupt them however, and Raven cast a steely glance around the room to make sure it stayed that way and they quickly resumed their previous activities in silence.

The psion also refrained from speaking, choosing instead to simply let her teammate get everything out on her own terms. She nursed the slightly below boiling Chamomile tea she had ordered, a took a small moment to lament that the cafe did not offer her favored choice of Lavender that she kept stocked in the Tower, and then spent a few minutes staring at her cup in respect for the hex castor as she assumed that the girl would feel even worse if she were to watch her for too long during her catharsis.

Eventually Raven had drained half of her cup and the cat-eyed Titan's breaths finally became even.

Sensing that the girl was now more naturally drained of emotion, Raven gently slid the mug of cocoa inside the temple formed by the hex castor’s arms and waited to see if the girl would speak.

Slowly, Jinx unfolded herself, feeling clearly drained if her posture was anything to go by, and carefully picked up the mug; centering it between both hands and sighed deeply as they soaked in its warmth.

She took a few sips, and Raven took a few sips, and then Jinx placed her mug back down.

"Thanks."

Raven nodded, took another sip, and then gave her fellow Titan a question glace.

"...So."

"So," Jinx replied flatly with a nod.

Taking that as a sign to continue Raven asked, "Do you want to talk about what happened back there or...?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." she replied as she shifted a bit in her seat, the booth's fabric squeaking a bit as she did so; "I mean yes," she amended before an affirmative nod.

"Was the fire a byproduct of the fight?" she asked gently; her voice was still unwavering, but at barely above a whisper, her monotone was far more soothing than terror-inducing, for which Jinx was grateful.

"Technically speaking yes, I think so?" she offered as she rolled a shoulder, "I mean I started it when I zapped Mad Mod's walking stick when he was aiming for Menos and the hex splintered off into the lights after taking it out and it I dunno... just combusted? But we couldn't really do anything about it until Mod was down and that took a few minutes cause Flash was hypnotized and doing this weird dancing thing and Mas was trying to help his brother dodge those flying cash registers and it was only a few minutes but I guess since the building was old it was like extra burnable or something."

"Actually most of the fire from what I observed was on surface level. I doubt any structural damage was done although it would be prudent for the owners to do a thorough check when the dust settles."

Jinx inhaled slowly and a twitch flickered across her spine and she began tapping her fingernails against her mug.

"So I didn't like... raze the sucker to the ground for good?"

"I'm afraid not. Banks are quite sturdier than that it would seem."

Jinx paused her finger tapping and seemed to ponder the statement.

Taking a measured breath Raven tilted her posture slightly, the movement catching Jinx's attention, causing her to look up once more.

The girl's make up was streaked along her face, and the empath winced slightly.

Jinx flinched, and Raven quickly took hold of her hand, effectively stopping the girl from folding up once more; the hex castor, confused, looked back at her again.

She gave her hand a gentle squeeze and offered her what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

It seemed to work, as Raven felt the girl's breathing begin to even out.

She waited a few more minutes, as Jinx was evidently still too shaken up, and allowed the girl to inspect the hand she placed over her own.

Jinx rubbed her thumb against hers absently, the small action sending a few waves of comfort along the girl's psyche, and lifted it.

She turned it over gently and ran a finger along the lines of her palm a few times and when that appeared to get repetitive she flipped it back and tapped her pink manicured fingernails overtop her black painted ones, which seemed to calm her further.

"I thought they were going to send me back," she whispered, the statement holding no more weight than the air it was spoken into.

"I wouldn't have let them take you," Raven replied, her voice just as soft, but composed with conviction.

Jinx's inhalation hissed between her teeth, and they both held their breath until she nodded.

"I remembered you... in that moment, when I thought that, I mean. So I called."

"I answered," she said as she threaded their fingers together.

Jinx exhaled deeply, and nodded slowly.

"Thanks."

"I also saw a bit of the coverage, just the tail end," she added quickly when Jinx's face shot up to look at her; "Has it been that bad every time?"

Jinx bit her bottom lip, flashing the empath a view of the girl's pointy eye teeth; "Sort of? I mean it's always worse in Jump but... I mean, in the beginning I was... expecting everyone to hate me so I wasn't paying attention to any of them anyway? Even at the East Tower? But, instead of hating me the news guys seemed to like me at least? Sort of? I mean Wally told me that most of their stories were just them talking about how great it was that he was able to 'reach out' to me or something like that. -They didn't start hounding us until a few weeks later."

"When the story ran dry they decided to turn on you."

"Yeah, I guess."

Raven sighed this time, tilted her head back and considered her next words as she tasted the emotions rolling off her teammate.

"If you feel comfortable answering, may I ask why Wally didn't come back after escorting Mod to the precinct?"

Jinx visibly stiffened and gently pulled her hand from the psion's to relocate both of her own under her arms.

She swallowed before replying, "We kinda had a fight."

Taking note of the girl's guarded posture Raven framed her next question more gently; "Is that why you're in here? Jump's a bit away from Titan's East Tower."

The hex castor nodded.

"May I ask?"

Jinx bit her lips again and slid her arms to the table and eyed her now much colder hot chocolate; seeing that the hex castor was readying herself for a long answer, Raven folded her hands under her chin.

"We had a fight the other day, before I met up with you," Jinx began, "About the situation with me and my powers and stuff. It wasn't the first of them and this time I finally snapped and I said that I was going to take care of it and I headed back here to cool off and then I had the idea to call you."

Raven hummed quietly to assure her that she was listening and to continue.

"Well, after I called you and we met up and you left the twins got worried enough to look for me cause I've never been gone longer than a few hours after one of our spats and we talked for a bit and they told me that Wally had told them that he had said to come home and that pissed me off so I told them to tell him to go fuck himself and that I was taking care of it."

She paused to sip her drink for a few minutes and Raven could taste the lingering resentment curling around her lithe frame.

"And then I tried that meditation thing again but I don't think I did as well as I thought I did because this morning I was taking a walk cause ya know, it was a nice enough day out and then Wally found me and we started arguing and then the robbery happened and then the press stuff and then I called you, so, that's all that then," she finished with a wave of her hand, the other once again wrapped around her mug.

She took a long few sips of her drink and Raven could see the tension residing in the girl's shoulders.

"While..." Raven began; changing her mind she dropped her hands and began again, "Does he know that... I have offered my assistance? Would that help?"

"He knows now, cause that's what we were fighting about his morning," Jinx replied emotionlessly.

"He... doesn’t approve?"

"He said that you have a history of temper tantrums worse than mine and that together we'd 'prolly blow up half the city if we spent as much as five minutes together."

Jinx watched as Raven leaned against the back of her seat, a cross between surprised and expectant at the information revealed and looked back at her now nearly empty mug.

After a few moment,s the empath straightened herself and smiled, causing the witch to stare at her in mild confusion.

Leaning in as if she was going to reveal a secret, Jinx mirrored her pose until they were both hunched over the table and the psion offered, "So far we've spent nearly half an hour together, and not so much as a single light bulb is the worse for wear."

Unable to resist, Jinx found herself giggling, her eyes instantly regaining their shine; and the empath felt a swell of pride bubble within her chest and she sat back, still smiling smugly.


End file.
